Batting

Trailing 7-1 after three innings, Polk State fought its way back and won its 16th game in a row, beating St. Petersburg College 8-7 tonight in Winter Haven.

After scoring a pair of runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth, the Eagles started the bottom of the seventh down 7-5.

Leading off the inning, Daniel Sweet reached first after getting hit by a pitch. An error then allowed Hayden Kelly to reach first and sent Sweet to third. Cody DeNoyelles then singled to right, scoring Sweet, advancing Kelly to second, and cutting the deficit to 7-6.

Casey Schroeder laid down a sacrifice bunt, putting runners at second and third with one out. JD Osborne then hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game.

With Sam Machonis up, a wild pitch moved runners to second and third. Mahconis then beat out an infield single as Kelly scored, giving the Eagles an 8-7 lead.

St. Petersburg threatened in the top of the eighth. With a runner on second an d no outs, Sweet ran far to his right and made a diving catch to take away an extra-base hit. Jumping to his feet he threw to second for a double play.

After the next three batters walked to load the bases, reliever Jose Serrano got a ground ball to end the inning.

Sweet (2-for-4) stole three bases and scored three runs. DeNoyelles (2-for-4) scored a run and had three RBI. JD Osborne (1-for-3) also had three RBI. Machonis (1-for-3) had two RBI and two stolen bases.

The Eagles (35-11, 21-5 in the Suncoast Conference) play State College of Florida, Sarasota-Manatee Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Winter Haven.